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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24821806">What it's like to be ace</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteampunkWilson/pseuds/SteampunkWilson'>SteampunkWilson</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Duck cousin LGBT+ headcannons [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Acephobia, Asexual Character, Donald is the caring oldest cousin, Duck family emotional support system, First crush gone wrong, Gay Male Character, LGBT+ duck cousins headcannons, Sex repulsed asexual, Swearing, first crushes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 03:21:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,890</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24821806</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteampunkWilson/pseuds/SteampunkWilson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Della and Donald are bored at one of Scrooge's galas, but Fethry has spotted a handsome young duck and he just can't take his eyes off him. </p><p>Continuation of 'What's it like to be gay?'.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Della Duck &amp; Donald Duck &amp; Fethry Duck &amp; Gladstone Gander, Donald Duck &amp; Fethry Duck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Duck cousin LGBT+ headcannons [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1791664</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>50</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>What it's like to be ace</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Warning, this fic contains some heavy acephobia. But these are not my views, I respect all areas of the LGBT+ community and you should too.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"This party kind of stinks." Della said as she and Donald leant against a wall, watching the dance floor. They were at one of Scrooge's famous galas, and could both agree that it was getting late, and there was hardly any people their age there, just the rich and famous over fifty. There was a raffle with the standard prizes and expensive tickets, a buffet and a dance floor and little else that interested the teenagers in attendance.</p><p>"Yeah." Donald nodded in agreement. "The only reason we came was to try and get dates, but nobody here's attractive. Wanna call it a night?"</p><p>"Definitely." Della said. They made their way over to their cousins, who were hanging out by the buffet. "Hey guys." Della said. "We're ready to go hang out in the mansion. Wanna come?"</p><p>"Me, sure." Gladstone said, he also looked tired and done. "But Fethry? I think he'd rather stick around." He grinned slyly at their youngest cousin, who wasn't paying attention to the conversation at all, and was instead staring out across the dance floor.</p><p>"Hey, what are you looking at?" Della said loudly, putting a arm around Fethry's shoulders to snap him out of it. He jumped.</p><p>"Nothing!" He said quickly. "What were you saying?"</p><p>"Oh really?" Della raised an eyebrow, following her cousin's gaze. "So you're not staring at that handsome guy over there?"</p><p>"No!" Fethry squawked in protest, but it was obvious. Gladstone began to laugh.</p><p>"Finally, our littlest cousin has got himself a crush!" He exclaimed. Fethry went bright red.</p><p>"I guess." He mumbled. Donald looked over at the object of his cousin's attention. He was a fairly handsome young duck, probably a year or so older than Fethry, with dark brown feathers and tousled black hair. He was one of the few other teens at the party, and Donald had to admit, out of the selection of young men in attendance, he wasn't a bad choice.</p><p>"You should go talk to him!" Della was saying eagerly. Fethry shook his head and almost backed himself into the punch bowl.</p><p>"No, I definitely shouldn't!" He stammered. Della gave him a small shove.</p><p>"Come on, you're never going to get a boyfriend if you hide by the buffet table all your life!" She said encouragingly.</p><p>"I'm only fourteen, do I need a boyfriend right now?" Fethry said, clutching the sleeves of his fancy jacket. "And what if Uncle Scrooge sees? None of us are ready to tell him!"</p><p>"Come on cuz, I'm ninety five percent sure Scrooge isn't even here." Gladstone said, putting a hand on Fethry's shoulder. "We'll cross the uncle McD bridge when we come to it." Fethry gulped, but still looked unsure. "This is a party!" Gladstone told him. "Live a little!"</p><p>"Are you sure?" Fethry took a few deep breaths.</p><p>"Definitely." Donald said assertively, smiling. Fethry took a another deep breath, put on a small smile, then strode towards his crush.</p><p>"There he goes!" Della said fondly. "Out into the world. Wow, why am I feeling all motherly all of a sudden?"</p><p>"Della, the day you have children is the day Uncle Scrooge gives up during an adventure." Donald told her with complete sincerity.</p><p>"Yeah, and if Della ever had kids, Donald would probably end up being the one looking after them." Gladstone joked. Della gave them twin punches on the shoulder.</p><p>"This isn't about me, this is about Fethry!" She snapped. "Also, I would make an amazing mum!"</p><p>The cousins watched as Fethry walked up to his crush, and smoothly interjected himself into the group's conversation with what seemed to be a joke. The group stopped for a moment, then everyone laughed and suddenly, Fethry was talking naturally to them all.</p><p>Della punched the air. "Yes! Our work here is done!" She said proudly. "Er, we probably shouldn't stand here and spy on them though."</p><p>"Yeah, that would be rude." Gladstone said, not moving a muscle.</p><p>"I would do something else, but this food is so good." Donald said through a mouthful of tiny cakes. Della and Gladstone nodded and also began filling their mouths with food, neither of them taking their eyes off Fethry for a moment.</p><p>Fethry seemed to be doing well, he and the handsome duck he had been staring at had branched away from the group for their own conversation, so Della, Donald and Gladstone natural moved away as well, finding other things to occupy themselves with.</p><p>Donald found himself beginning to enjoy the party again, nodding his head to the music and grinning whenever a girl glanced over towards him and giggled. He was considering the benefits of going over to talk to some of them when he felt a tug on his arm. He looked over to see Fethry standing there, holding on tightly to his jacket sleeve.</p><p>"Hey, what are you doing here?" He asked. Fethry grimaced.</p><p>"I want to leave." He said quietly. Donald nodded, instantly realising that teasing his cousin or asking questions wouldn't help right now. He looked over to the buffet table.</p><p>"There's Della. Come on, let's tell her we're going."</p><p>Fethry nodded and they went over to Della, who also didn't ask too any questions and said she'd find Gladstone so they could all head back to the mansion together.</p><p>Donald and Fethry headed outside to try and find the car they had shown up in, but it wasn't there. It seemed Scrooge had gotten bored of the party long before they had and decided that his teenage nehews and niece could find their own way home. Just when Donald was about to let fly every curse word he knew to describe the old man, Della and Gladstone showed up, Gladstone holding up a set of car keys and saying that he'd won a free car in the raffle with a ticket he's found on the floor.</p><p>Della, the only one with any sort of driver's licence (even if it was fake), drove them all back to the mansion. Fethry was still holding onto Donald's jacket and not saying anything. Eventually, Donald couldn't take it any more.</p><p>"What happened Fethry!" He asked loudly. "Did that guy hurt you? I swear if he did anything then I will-"</p><p>"Donald, no!" Fethry interjected quickly. "Nothing like that."</p><p>"Then what?" Gladstone asked, his tone just as angry. "Because the last time you were this quiet was that time we all got arrested!"</p><p>Fethry chuckled. "Uncle Scrooge was so mad." He said quietly, a smile on his face. Della laughed from her seat in the front.</p><p>"He made me and Donald pay back every penny of our bail!" She said. "Which was totally unfair because you guys never chipped in!"</p><p>"We live on a farm, we're poor!" Gladstone protested, smiling.</p><p>"You could make millions by picking up coins from the street!" Donald argued. Fethry laughed again at his cousin's antics.</p><p>"Seriously Feth." Donald said in a much softer voice. "We're not going to leave it alone until you tell us what's wrong."</p><p>Fethry sighed and rested his head on Donald's shoulder. "Fine. The guy's name is Robert, he was pretty nice, handsome, smart, and I think he liked me. He called me cute and stuff like that. So we kept on talking." Fethry had a small smile on his face as he spoke about his crush, but suddenly dropped it. "We drank a bit of alcohol, he had a lot more than I did, you know how I don't like drinking. And then he started talking about different, more intimate stuff that someone might do after a party."</p><p>Donald grimaced. He knew how sex repulsed his cousin was and hated to think how this conversation might have gone.</p><p>"I told him outright that I was asexual." Fethry said. "And that I was interested in him, but not in that way. And he said... he said that I was just making excuses and that being asexual is just something frigid weirdos came up with to try and fit in with everyone else."</p><p>Della started to drive slightly faster, her fingers clenched tightly around the steering wheel. Donald felt heat rising in his ears, his famous temper was coming to the surface. He struggled for control by clenching and unclenching his fists.</p><p>"He said some other stuff too, about being ace, stuff that I don't really want to repeat." Fethry continued, his voice rising. "And when I tried to leave because I didn't want to stick around and let some jerk say that stuff to my face, he grabbed my wrist and said he wasn't done."</p><p>Gladstone muttered something that Donald didn't quite understand, but he got the gist.</p><p>"So then I kicked him and went to find Donald." Fethry finished up. "Did I overreact?" He asked anxiously. "Maybe I should have said I was ace from the start, I-"</p><p>"Fethry." Donald said sternly, somehow keeping his anger under wraps. "You did the right thing. That guy was an ass and he deserves a lot worse than kick in the shins!"</p><p>"Actually I kicked him in the stomach." Fethry said quietly. "You know, like Della taught me." He sighed. "But, is he right? Some of the stuff he said, I'm not like everyone else. Whenever someone mentions sex I feel like throwing up. I'm not even like you guys!" He gestured wildly around the car."</p><p>"Fethry, you never were like us." Gladstone said firmly. "You never have been and you never will be. That's not something to be ashamed of. There are loads of asexual people in the world and the words of some drunk asshole who can't be bothered to educate himself or respect the people around him will never change that!"</p><p>"Really?" Fethry stammered, a smile creeping up on his face. Gladstone nodded, and Donald did too.</p><p>"You're just as valid as the rest of us!" Della said loudly in an encouraging tone. Fethry smiled full on.</p><p>"Thanks guys." He said softly. Donald patted his head and tucked an arm around him.</p><p>"Now this guy on the other hand." Della said in a murderous tone. "Robert, you said? Probably the kid of some famous investor. It'll be easy to track him down."</p><p>"Della, no, you don't-"</p><p>"I'll look over the list of invites." Donald said. "Scrooge made everyone rsvp with their plus one's name."</p><p>"Guys-"</p><p>"No time, I'll just cover my eyes and point to the list of addresses. We'll find the jerk." Gladstone added, cracking his knuckles. "Which one of Scrooge's cursed artefacts would be appropriate for this situation?"</p><p>"Guys!" Fethry said loudly. "I don't need you to hunt him down for me! I'm fine!"</p><p>"But it would be so much fun!" Della whined. "And the asshole deserves it!"</p><p>Fethry shook his head firmly and Donald and Gladstone sighed.</p><p>"Fine, we'll leave him alone." Gladstone said. "But if we ever see him coincidentally in public-"</p><p>"Still no!"</p><p>The three older cousins sighed again and muttered things about leaving the guy alone, but Donald knew the moment they were out of Fethry's earshot they would immediately band together and plot the perfect way to ruin this kid's life. Nobody insulted part of their community, least of all their own cousin, and got away with it. They all had to stick together and look out for each other. And they always would.</p>
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